Being a grandpa cool enough to blog

When I was asked to be part of the Children’s blog, I got very excited thinking, wow, I’m now one of those up-to-date type of managers. Even as a grandfather, I could be cool because I have a blog. The fact that I even understand some of the manifestations of social media is a little bit mind-blowing (an old term by the way).

“Term used to describe anyone with enough time or narcissism to document every tedious bit of minutia filling their uneventful lives. Possibly the most annoying thing about bloggers is the sense of self-importance they get after even the most modest of publicity. Sometimes it takes as little as a referral on a more popular blogger’s website to set the lesser blogger’s ego into orbit.” – Maddox

Well, as soon as I saw this I realized it wasn’t dissimilar from my own feelings when people ask me if I’ve seen their Facebook and read their recent writings. I once told my sister-in-law that while I love her dearly, seeing her 6 to 8 times a year is enough and I don’t need to know what she is doing every day.

Nevertheless, social media is here to stay whether it is Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or the blogs. Rather than being afraid of it, one needs to realize that it is just another technological advancement no different than telephones, the Internet, email, etc. Each one of these modalities just continued to do what the previous one did: allow people to network with others who they consider friends or think similarly to communicate with each other.

Even by the time I write this blog there will probably be some new technology out there that my children will have already started using. Since I realize they don’t call me back and hardly ever respond to emails anymore, I won’t find out immediately. If I’m not texting or tweeting, I’m just not with it.

I bring this up because from a management standpoint, one has to know what the next generations use, think or value if we are to have any success in getting things accomplished. That is, we have to know what technology to use.

In the New York Times on March 14, there was a small article in the paper about a professor and other teachers taking away cell phones and computers for one week from their students to see what they’d be able to do without them. For most, it was a major struggle. For me, not having my Blackberry would be a major struggle. Nevertheless, they are here and there will be more and for those of us who want to work with other young doctors and other young staff, we will have to learn to adapt to them and with them. Tweet away.

Why do you think it’s important for health care professionals to stay on top of new communication trends?

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